5. RESEARCH DESIGN
6.3 Goal internalization
In the goal internalization motivation category, the first question was “would you work for the company if you didn’t agree with its mission”. All the respondents said that they could not likely work for such company except ENTP stated that he could. ENTP argued
“the company and how it does business does not define me as a person. – The decisions I make in the work does not affect the other aspect of my life because they belong to the different sphere of the life”.
Regarding thinking and feeling preferences, ENTP’s comment about being able to work for the company regardless of its mission indicates the thinking preference since the thinking personalities can be regarded as indifferent. Furthermore, similarly associated with the thinking preference, ISTJ stated that she could work for the company although she does not agree completely with the company’s mission, if her job is not directly related to its mission. However, as a little contradictory discovery to the previous findings of the thinking preferences, ESTJ stated “I can not motivate myself enough, if I know that my work contribution leads to something, which I can not entirely support”.
Moreover, ISTJ also mentioned that she can not work for the company, which mission is totally against her values. Therefore, there was no consistent pattern. The feeling preferences, INFP and ISFJ, mentioned that they can not work for the company, which values are against their values. That is consistent with their feeling preferences and, hence, maintaining harmony and being idealistic. Regarding sensing and intuitive preferences, ISTJ gave examples of very concrete things for actions of totally unethical companies such as polluting nature and degrading the human dignity. Moreover, ISFJ mentioned that the environment and people should not be harmed. All these things can be linked to the sensing preference since being connected to the actual, and real subjects are typical for that preference. No differences were found between extroverts and introverts nor judging and perceiving preferences.
The second question was “do you have to believe in the cause before you will work hard at achieving its ends”. ISTJ, INFJ, and ENTP argued that it does not matter, but INFP, ISFJ, and ESTJ said that it matters to some extent. As the sensing preference,
ISTJ admitted that the concrete meaning of the job helps to keep her motivation higher so that she works harder. That indicates the sensing preference and the importance of everything actual and real. INFJ argued that the concrete meaning of her work is not essential, which can be seen as a typical answer from the intuitive preference and thus, concerning more abstract issues. However, otherwise respondents said that the meaning of the work is an important motivator regardless the respondents’ preferences and hence, no consistent pattern was found. Regarding thinking and feeling preferences, ENTP argued
“if I promise something, I keep my word. No matter how uncomfortable it is. If I promise to work as best I can, then I will do it. Otherwise, I am lying to myself”.
Therefore, ENTP referred being indifferent to his feelings, what indicates the thinking preference. Concerning extrovert and introvert preferences, INFJ argued that every job is a possibility to learn and, therefore, an important one. Learning was a reference to her inner world, which is an indicator of the introvert preference. No difference was found between judging and perceiving preferences.
The third question was “if an organization is accomplishing a mission that you agree with, does it matter whether you were responsible for its success”. ISTJ, ISFJ, and INFJ stated that they do not need recognition from the success. INFJ argued ”I would like that the company’s management know that it was my merit, but yes, in some situations it is not necessarily so important to get the credit”. ESTJ stated that she wants to have recognition if there is a risk that somebody else would get the credit, when she has been solely responsible for the achievement. However, she stated “if the recognition goes to my colleagues, who have worked as hard as I did for the accomplishment, I do not necessarily mind if I do not get the merit”. ENTP stated that he wants to have the credit, if he is responsible for the success. Regarding thinking and feeling preferences, ENTP argued “credit where is due”. That implies the thinking preference since it may indicate being indifferent from other team members’ feelings and approval if they consider his behavior arrogant and that he is diminishing other team members. Related to introvert and extrovert preferences, INFJ stated “I do not need the credit”. This remark can be seen as an indicator of the introvert preference and the lesser importance
of the external world and its recognitions. No difference was found between sensing and intuitive nor judging and perceiving preferences.
Lastly, the respondents had an opportunity to share their viewpoints on the covered issues. ENTP argued that in his opinion, there is no such thing as motivation. There is only a persons’ character, which determines, whether the individual follows through no matter how uncomfortable it will be. He also used several metaphors in the answer.
That indicates the intuition preference since the intuition personality prefers metaphors, impressions and symbols over an actual experience.
Results are presented in tables 4– 8.
Table 4. Results: intrinsic process motivation.
Intrinsic process motivation.
Do you like to do only things, which are fun? Introvert: INFJ had a need for challenging herself.
All the respondents answered that they also do things they do not necessarily enjoy.
Feeling: ISFJ referred to benefits when doing unpleasant things for herself or another party.
Perceiving: ENTP & INFP need higher incentives to do uncomfortable things.
No differences were found between sensing and intuitive preferences.
If you did not enjoy doing the job at your work, would you leave?
Introvert: ISTJ stated that other benefits of the job are more important than enjoyableness. Hence, contradictory finding due to introvert preference.
All the respondents answered that they would leave, but ISTJ, ISFJ, ESTJ, and INFJ had reservations concerning the likelihood to find another job or current personal financial situation.
Perceiving: ENTP and INFP quicker to say they will leave the job if they do not enjoy it, and had very little consideration whether to say in the job or not.
Thinking: ISTJ and ESTJ would stay in the job if there are little possibilities to get another job.
Sensing: ESTJ, ISFJ, and ISTJ referred to the physical reality such as getting other job, work colleagues and personal financial situation.
Do you choose people you spend your time with depending on how fun they are?
Thinking: ENTP: an important factor of a friend was being straight and saying things as they are.
No significant difference was found between introvert and extrovert, judging and perceiving or sensing and intuitive preferences.
Table 5. Results: instrumental motivation.
Instrumental motivation.
Do job requirements dictate how much effort you exert during work?
Introvert: ISTJ, INFJ, ISFJ and INFP do their work as well as possible regardless of the external standards of the work.
It affects to ESTJ, but not necessarily to INFP and has no effect to other respondents.
Feeling: ISFJ said that if she cares personally about her employer, she will work harder Thinking: ENTP illustrated that the opportunity cost is very high for the job without remuneration and, thus, no reason for working.
There were no differences between judging and perceiving or sensing and intuitive in order to earn a higher salary.
Every respondent was ready to work harder, but with some reservations.
Sensing: ISTJ needs concretely work harder if she gets more salary, and salary is also one of her critical motivation factors.
Intuitive: ISFJ said only salary do not act as a sufficient incentive unless the job itself is meaningful. Hence, it was quite a contradictory finding due to the sensing preference of ISFJ.
No differences were found between judging and perceiving or feeling and thinking preferences.
Should eyes and ears always be kept open for better job opportunities?
Introvert:ISTJ mentioned that human’s own desire for the development affects the willingness to seek other jobs.
INFP argued that there is no reason for seeking better opportunities in some situations, but other respondents stated that it should be done.
No differences between thinking and feeling preferences.
Table 6. Results: self-concept-external motivation.
Self-concept-external motivation.
Is it important to you that others approve your behavior?
Sensing: ISTJ mentioned law and order in which frame she needs to stay in terms of her behavior. care about others’ opinion of her, but she does take others into consideration in her behavior.
Thinking: ENTP does not change his behavior if he feels that his behavior does not need to be accepted by others. However, ENTP will also avoid conflicts in the situations he feels it is needed. Thus, the pattern was not very strong.
No significant differences were found between judging and perceiving preferences or extraversion and introversion.
Do you work harder if public recognition is attached to the work?
Introvert: ISFJ said that the most important thing is not the publicity, but the supervisor’s and team’s opinions. Therefore, this was quite a contradictory finding since ISFJ has the introvert preference.
ISTJ, ENTP, and INFP stated that publicity makes them work harder. However, INFJ, ESTJ, and ISFJ argued that it does not affect significantly or directly to their motivation.
Thinking: ENTP will highlight his role in the work if it gets publicity.
Sensing: ISTJ will do additional checks and be more careful if she knows that her work will be acknowledged.
No differences were found between judging and perceiving preferences.
Do you think that these people, who make most friends, have lived the fullest life?
Introvert: ISTJ suggested that the fulfillment of the life comes from well-being of that person and how the individual is able to live as he/she wishes.
All the respondents argued that the number of the friends does not matter.
No significant differences were found between thinking and feeling, sensing and intuitive or judging and perceiving preferences.
Table 7. Results: self-concept-internal motivation.
Self-concept-internal motivation
Do decisions you make reflect the highest standards that you have set for yourself?
Introvert: ISTJ and INFJ referred to self-development and challenging themselves.
All the respondents answered that they do, but INFP and ISFJ said that it is not always the case.
Judging: ISFJ, ESTJ, and INFJ referred to their goals, and decisions they make for achieving these goals.
Perceiving: INFP makes the decisions based on her current feelings.
Sensing: ISTJ referred to doing concrete work for a report with a meticulous attitude and
Extrovert: ESTJ said that the external factors of the work life (work environment and usefulness of the work for others) can be more important in being satisfied with the work.
All the respondents except ESTJ said that it is important to be able to use their skills in the work. ESTJ argued that it depends on the situation in her life.
No differences were found between thinking and feeling, judging and perceiving or sensing and intuitive preferences.
Do you consider to be able to motivate yourself?
Judging: INFJ dislikes to leave things undone. INFJ and ISTJ like to reward themselves after achieving their targets. ISTJ tries to achieve her goals as efficient as
No differences were found between introvert and extrovert preferences.
Table 8. Results: goal internalization motivation.
Goal internalization motivation
Would you work for the company if you didn’t agree with its mission?
Thinking: ENTP could work for the company regardless of the fit of his values and the company’s mission. ISTJ could work for the company if her job is not directly related to its mission. However, ISTJ can not work for the company, which mission is totally against her values. ESTJ stated that she can not motivate herself for working the company she can not support. Therefore, there was no totally consistent pattern.
Feeling: INFP and ISFJ can not work for the company, which values are against their totally unethical companies such as polluting nature. ISFJ said that environment and people should not be harmed.
No differences were found between extroverts and introverts or judging and perceiving preferences.
Do you have to believe in a cause before you will work hard at achieving its ends?
Sensing: ISTJ said that concrete meaning of the job helps to keep her motivation higher so that she works harder.
ISTJ, INFJ, and ENTP argued that it does not matter, but INFP, ISFJ, and ESTJ said that it matters to some extent.
Thinking: If ENTP has made a promise, he needs to keep it and follow through, although it would be very uncomfortable.
Introvert: INFJ argued that every job is an important one and possibility to learn.
No difference was found between judging and perceiving preferences.
If an organization is accomplishing a mission that you agree with, does it matter whether you were responsible for its success?
Thinking: ENTP argued that the honor of doing the work should go to the person, whom it belongs.
ISTJ, ISFJ, and INFJ stated that they do not need the recognition. INFJ wants that the company’s management knows her credit, but in some situations it does not matter.
Introvert: INFJ stated that getting the recognition from the work is not important.
No differences were found between sensing and intuitive or judging and perceiving preferences.
Shared viewpoints. Intuitive: ENTP used a number of metaphors
in his answer and argued that motivation does not exist, only the personality of the individual in order to follow through.
7. DISCUSSION
The aim of this thesis was to research, whether there is a connection between personality and motivation. The study’s results indicate that there are only a few significant differences between personality preferences in terms of motivation. In the intrinsic process motivation- category there were no significant differences between preferences in the initial responses. Perceiving preferences appeared several times as spontaneous; needing higher incentives to do unpleasant things and having little consideration in staying in the undesirable job. Thinking preferences appeared several times in considerations of remaining in the unsatisfactory job. Several sensing personalities referred to the physical reality such as personal financial situation and colleagues. Accordingly this study, perceiving, thinking and sensing preferences appeared to be the strongest preferences in the intrinsic process motivation category.
Accordingly Myers-Briggs Foundation (2015), the sensing- intuition pair is related to information gathering, whether an individual does it through five senses (sensing) or through possibilities and patterns in the information (intuition). Thinking-feeling is related to the way individuals make their decisions and whether they weight impersonal facts and objective principles (thinking) or people involved in the situation and personal concerns (feeling) as more important. The sensing- perceiving pair describes, how individuals prefer to live their outer life, i.e. what is the behavior others tend to see;
decided and structured (judging) or adaptable and flexible lifestyle (perceiving).
Intrinsic process motivation is related to motivation, what a person gets when the work itself or participating in the behavior for the fun of it act as an incentive (Barbuto &
Scholl 1998). This study suggests that the perceiving preferences have a lower threshold to seek more desirable work, if the job does not provide enough enjoyment. Moreover, the study indicates that the thinking preferences are more likely to stay in the unsatisfactory job and cope without motivation from the work itself. Furthermore, the study suggests that the sensing preferences may put more weight to the realities affecting the decisions. These conclusions are coherent with the definitions of each preference by Myers-Briggs Foundation (2015) and, therefore, justified. Furthermore, Buie (1998: 53) found that the perceiving preferences wanted more spontaneity and
variety than the judging preferences. Hence, the findings of this study regarding spontaneity of the perceiving preferences are consistent with Buie’s discovery.
However, Barbuto, Fritz, Lim & Xu (2008) found that extraversion-introversion and judging-perceiving are significantly related to the intrinsic process and, therefore, the findings of their study differ from the results of this study. Nevertheless, in their study these relationships had only small significance and thus, they argued that conclusions should be made cautiously.
In the instrumental motivation category, there was some variety in the initial answers.
Nevertheless, the difference between preferences was not highly significant. However, the introvert preference emerged several times. Introverts referred totheir need for self-development and their internal standards regarding the work. The feeling preference also appeared in terms of caring personally of the employer. Myers-Briggs Foundation (2015) describes introversion-extraversion dichotomy so that it determines where people get their energy and where they put their attention; to their inner world of images and ideas (introversion) or spending time in the outer world of things and people (extraversion). People are rewarded by instrumental motivation when they realize that their actions lead to tangible extrinsic outcomes such as promotion, bonuses and pay (Barbuto & Scholl 1998). This study indicates that the introverts refer more to their inner world and standards than to the external world and its promotions. The results of the study also suggest that the feeling preferences may be motivated by empathizing with the employer. Both of the findings are coherent with the preference descriptions by Myers-Briggs Foundation (2015). However, Barbuto,Fritz, Lim & Xu (2008) found a connection between instrumental motivation and the sensing-intuition preference what this study did not do.
In self-concept-external motivation, the answers divided only regarding the question of working harder if public recognition is attached to the work. However, in that question the answers were not divided in the clear order by the personality preferences. Thus, no remarkably significant differences were found. Nevertheless, the thinking preference emerged few times in being indifferent from one’s or other people’s feelings. In self-concept motivation individuals lean on the external world and seek approval from
others for their competencies, values and traits (Barbuto et al. 2008). Therefore, this study suggests that the thinking preferences may not be easily motivated by the role and expectations set by others. This finding is consistent with the description of the thinking preference being impersonal. Barbuto et al. (2008) did not find a link between self-concept-external motivation and the MBTI preferences.
In self-concept-internal motivation, there was some variation in the answers, but they were not divided by the personality preferences. Nevertheless, the introvert preference appeared several times as remarks to self-development and challenging themselves.
Therefore, the remarks referred to the introvert’s world and ideal. The judging
Therefore, the remarks referred to the introvert’s world and ideal. The judging